24 April {Friday}

Witness

Witness is an artistic inquiry into how a performative action can have the power of memento.

The action draws on the scenic concept from a new Teatr ZAR performance, Armine, Sister. At its core is an installation of 16 columns representing an Armenian temple. Witness, however, is an independent work, although created on the same artistic premises as Teatr ZAR’s performance. The piece explores Armenian history but at the same time goes beyond it, addressing the issues of how memory is retained and carried.

Daisuke Yoshimoto graduated in art from the Theatre Department at the Nippon University in 1967. Since the early years of his stage career, he collaborated and co-created performances with the greatest Butoh masters such as Hisayo Iwaki, Yukihiko Sakai and Kazuo Ohno (as a stage manager for La Argentina in 1977 and My Mother in 1981). In 1983 he created his first Butoh piece, The Head of the Bird Woman. He has performed in many countries, including Austria, Denmark, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, Ukraine, Hungary, Italy and the USA.